Runcorn F.C. Halton was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club that played in

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

and

Prescot Prescot is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. It lies about to the east of Liverpool city centre. At the 2001 Census, the civil parish population was 11,184 (5,265 males, 5,919 femal ...

at various points during its existence.

History

The club was founded in 1918 as Highfield and Camden Tanneries Recreation Club. They became members of the

Lancashire Combination The Lancashire Combination was a football league founded in the North West of England in 1891–92. It absorbed the Lancashire League in 1903. In 1968 the Combination lost five of its clubs to the newly formed Northern Premier League. In 1982 i ...

in the same year, winning a cup. As Runcorn F.C., they were founder members of the

Cheshire County League The Cheshire County League was a football league founded in the north west of England in 1919, drawing its teams largely from Cheshire, surrounding English counties and North Wales. Initially the league was dominated by the reserve teams of Fo ...

in 1919, and were its first champions. They won the league and Cheshire League Cup double in 1937. Runcorn were founder members of the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

in 1968 and won the Cheshire Senior Cup in 1973. The pinnacle of the club's history was the

Alliance Premier League The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South. The National League ...

(now the National League) title success of 1982, but they were denied the chance of taking part in the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

elections because the club did not meet league requirements. This re-election system was replaced by automatic promotion from 1987 onwards, but it came too late to help Runcorn who by then were no longer a top team in the Football Conference. In 1986, for the first time ever, Runcorn reached the final of the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

, but lost 1–0 to

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

. That season the team had beaten

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

4–1 to reach the second round of the FA Cup.

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

, ''Football: Robson Has No Argument With World Cup Choice 26 November 1985 In 1993–94, their stadium nearly fell apart. A perimeter wall collapsed during a cup game against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

, the roof blew off one stand, and the main stand was destroyed by a fire. This crippled the club, which was relegated in 1996 for the first time ever. In 2000, they sold the Canal Street ground where they had played since 1918, and moved to the 11,000-seat

Halton Stadium The Halton Stadium (currently known as the DCBL Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a multi-purpose rugby league, association football, football and American football stadium in Widnes, Cheshire, England. It is the home of Rugby League side ...

, which was also used by the town's rugby team and Everton reserves. The club renamed itself Runcorn FC Halton to reflect its new location. In 2004, they finished in 13th place in the

, and were promoted to the new

Conference North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 o ...

. Their spell at this level lasted just one season before they were relegated back to the NPL. During this season, the club's precarious financial state caused them to move out of the Halton Stadium permanently, having finished the previous season at

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

Haig Avenue Haig Avenue (originally known as Ash Lane) is a football stadium in Blowick, Southport, Merseyside, England, that holds 6,008 people (1,537 seated, 4,471 standing). Since its opening in 1905 it has been the home ground of Southport. Location T ...

, and to share

Valerie Park The Joseph Russell Stadium, traditionally known as Hope Street, is a stadium in Prescot, Merseyside. It is located on Eaton Street in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley. It is home to Prescot Cables F.C., Prescot Cables of the Northern Premie ...

, home of local rivals Prescot Cables, who also played in the Northern Premier League.

Demise

During its final season the club went into severe financial crisis and was unable to pay its players' wages, forcing it to offload many of its key playing staff and replace them with amateur players used to playing at a much lower standard. This made for an embarrassing end to the season, with Runcorn finishing bottom and frequently suffering defeats by five or more goals, though their record defeat of 9–0 remained intact. After a second successive relegation, the club's future was in doubt, and the decision was made to officially confirm its resignation from the league and cease activity. By this time, disgruntled supporters had already formed the breakaway club Runcorn Linnets F.C., which was granted membership of the

North West Counties League The North West Counties Football League is a football league in the North West of England. Since 2019–20, the league has covered the Isle of Man, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cumbria, northern Staffordshire, northern ...

Division Two for the 2006–07 season.

Honours

(now

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

) **Champions: 1981–82 *

**Runners up: 1985–86, 1992–93, 1993–94 *

**Champions: 1975–76, 1980–81 *

Northern Premier League Challenge Cup The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English football league system. Geographically, the league c ...

**Winners: 1974–75, 1979–80, 1980–81 * Northern Premier League President's Cup **Winners: 1998 *

Cheshire Senior Cup The Cheshire County Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Cheshire Senior Cup, is a football knockout tournament founded in the 1879–80 season and involves teams from Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside, England. I ...

**Winners 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89

Former players

1. Players that have played/managed in the Football League or any foreign equivalent to this level (i.e. fully professional league).
2. Players with full international caps.
3. Players that hold a club record or have captained the club. * Alan Cocks * Jimmy Dunn *

John Fielding Sir John Fielding (16 September 1721 – 4 September 1780) was an English magistrate and social reformer of the 18th century. He was the younger half-brother of novelist, playwright and chief magistrate Henry Fielding. Despite being blinded i ...

Ken Furphy Kenneth Furphy (28 May 1931 – 17 January 2015) was an English football player and manager. Despite being on the books at Everton between 1950 and 1951, Furphy was a lower league player with Runcorn (1951–53) Darlington (1953–62) and the ...

* Ian Woan * Billy Telford * Trevor Finnigan

References

External links

* *{{fchd, id=RUNCORNH, name=Runcorn Halton Association football clubs established in 1918 Association football clubs disestablished in 2006 Defunct football clubs in England Defunct football clubs in Cheshire Runcorn 1918 establishments in England 2006 disestablishments in England Works association football teams in England Cheshire County League clubs National League (English football) clubs